Restaurant Review: Petersburg's Present

International dining at Andrades rides a new wave of interest

But now the small, historic city to the south is showing renewed vigor: Real estate speculators are buying up property on High Street; nearby Fort Lee is preparing to double in size; and the Army Corps of Engineers is dredging a long-lost harbor at a bend in the Appomattox River on the edge of downtown.

Nowhere is the revival as evident as in a one-block stretch of Bollingbrook Street, where three interesting restaurants have blossomed and a fourth is scheduled to open soon.

At least one of them  Andrades  is worth the drive, even if just for the plantains.

Owner Rogoberto Parada, a native of El Salvador, opened the place seven months ago after rising rent forced him to move from downtown Frederick, Md. He wanted to stay in a historic district, but costs were high in Alexandria and Richmond, so he settled on Petersburg, which is still recovering from a devastating tornado that destroyed much of the Old Towne district more than a decade ago.

Parada wooed a fellow Salvadoran chef from a hotel in the Washington, D.C., area to create a menu that offers inviting dishes from Latin America and Spain.

A perfect way to begin dinner there is with one or more servings of sweet, melt-in-your-mouth plantains, accompanied by a dollop of sour cream. At $2.25 they are a bargain, as is most food at Andrades.

Other appetizers ($6-$7) include ceviche (Bolivia), fresh fish marinated overnight in lemon and herbs and sprinkled with diced celery, olives and onions.

This last dish blends seemingly competing flavors  bitter oranges from Seville and the juices of onions and lime with oregano and other traditional spices  into an exhilarating criollo sauce, which, along with slices of raw onion, tops chewy, vinegary morsels of pork.

The shrimp-and-scallop sauté (Peru) floats in a sauce of clam juice, joined with cilantro, fresh tomatoes, onions, jalape¤o peppers and potatoes.

Salvador is represented by a roasted chicken dish.

Patrons seeking familiar Mexican dishes won't be disappointed either with the taste or the price of enchiladas, tortillas, tacos and chimichangas; only the seafood add-ons push the cost into double figures.

The lone dessert made in the house is a traditional flan, whose success should spur the kitchen to try more sweets.

As if food from several continents does not provide enough variety, the décor of the 52-seat family restaurant mixes Latin touches with the remains of a couple of predecessors, including a mural of a Venetian gondolier, a columned arbor with fake grapes, slatted wood booths with park benches, tabletop lamps, a tin ceiling, overhead fans and red-and-black walls. A large front window is framed inside by a string of lights and outside by a blue awning. The name Andrades also is a remnant from the spot's immediate and short-lived predecessor.

A visit to Andrades is enhanced by an extremely pleasant international wait staff that includes a Colombian woman decked out in a tie bearing both a soccer ball and the flags of Argentina, Mexico and Colombia.

In addition to the polyglot décor, Andrades and its neighboring competitors attract a racially mixed clientele seldom found in Richmond restaurants. Outdoor dining is available.

After dinner have a drink at one of the rocking, pricier spots a few yards away. Wabi-Sabi is a handsome place with brick walls and a sushi bar upstairs and a bar and darts downstairs. Brickhouse Run, in a cobblestoned alley, is a red-door British pub that features shepherd's pie, fish and chips, and burgers and mash.

If nothing else, peer through the sidewalk grate at Wabi-Sabi and wave to the smokers who congregate in a subterranean cell-like space.

The neighborhood has an art stroll the second Friday of the month, antiquing on weekends and nightly entertainment, including theatrical productions, around the corner at Sycamore Rouge. S